The primary themes arising from Aon’s 2022 Asia Pacific Corporate Governance and ESG Survey conducted in late 2022 are that ESG has become more important for boards of all sizes and there is a clear and growing recognition that there is too much risk associated with not acting swiftly to address ESG issues. However, 41% of the companies surveyed lack a formal process or training programme to educate their board members about contemporary ESG topics. Having a holistic, data-informed view on ESG policies, practices, risks and opportunities, and organisational resources is thus vital for effective stewardship.

Join this Dialogue to get an overview of the critical governance and ESG issues that companies in Asia Pacific are tackling and understand the importance of organisational alignment and human capital management in your ESG journey progress. We aim to cover the followings:

The Challenges

• Linking ESG to Business Strategyy
• Organisational Alignment with ESG & Business Strategy
• Availability of ‘Green Talent’: ESG & Implications for Human Capital Management
• Data Quality & Financial Stakeholders
• Board Oversight and Education

Next Steps & Opportunities

• Reward: ESG Linked Incentives – Long Term vs Short Term Incentives
• Mapping ESG Priorities, Assessing ESG Maturity, Systems & Processes
• People Strategies – Diversity Equity and Inclusion & Human Capital Management

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This dialogue session will be held under the Catham House Rule.

Speaker

Boon Chong Na
Advisory Partner, APAC Corporate Governance and ESG Lead, Talent Solutions,
Aon

Boon is a Partner at Aon and based out of Singapore with more than 35 years of consulting experience.  

His areas of expertise range from corporate governance and executive compensation, public sector pay, organization transformation, succession planning, to enterprise performance management and workforce planning. He has extensive consulting experience in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Philippines as well as Greater China.​ 

​He spent three years with Aon Consulting, starting up its human capital consulting business in Southeast Asia before the Aon Hewitt’s merger. Prior to Aon Consulting, he spent a long career with Hewitt as head of its Singapore consulting operations and Asia Pacific practice leader in corporate restructuring and change.​ 

​He was instrumental in introducing best practice tools, protocols and analytics in board oversight on performance and compensation matters to a number of market leaders in Southeast Asia since early 2000s.​ He is currently leading ESG across APAC for Aon Talent Solutions and coauthored the 2022 APAC Corporate Governance and ESG Survey Report.  

​His clients include major organizations in both the private and public sectors, in industries such as financial services, technology, healthcare, energy, professional services, etc. ​ 

​Boon graduated from the University of Minnesota and Rutgers University with a B.Sc. And M.Sc. respectively. He is accredited by WorldatWork as a Certified Compensation Professional. He is also a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Directors as well as a graduate of the INSEAD International Directors Program.  He frequently contributes professional views in governance issues such as board/executive performance, compensation, leadership and succession.

Lavanya Venugopal
Manager, Commercial team, Talent Solutions
Aon

Lavanya is a manager of the commercial team for Aon’s talent solutions where she works across teams to drive strategic growth. She works closely with the regional ESG practice and co-authored the 2022 APAC Corporate Governance and ESG Survey Report.

Lavanya graduated from University College London (UCL) with an M.Arch in Urban Design and from Anna University with a B.Arch. She has over 10 years’ experience working across a number of large-scale sustainability projects, including smart cities, urban mobility, urban resilience and growth strategy. 

Dr. Tunku Alina binti Raja Muhd Alias

Dr. Tunku Alina serves as an independent director on the board of Nestlé Malaysia, IJM Corporation Berhad, Malaysian Pacific Industries Berhad and Batu Kawan Berhad. She sits on the Board Audit, Risk Management, Nomination and Remuneration committees. She is also Chair of the board of JA Russell & Co Sdn Bhd. A sustainability and corporate governance practitioner, she volunteers as council member with Climate Governance Malaysia. Her career in corporate governance at board level is underpinned by many years in legal practice as well as continuing board education in sustainability, climate issues, circular economy and ESG governance. She is also a mediator with the Malaysian Bar Council and an associate mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre. Her PhD is in Islamic Finance with a focus on the waqf, an Islamic endowment foundation.

Datin Sri Badrunnisa Mohd Yasin Khan

Datin Sri Badrunnisa, was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director of UEM Sunrise Berhad on 21 June 2021. She is also the Chairman of Nomination & Remuneration Committee of the company.

She began her career with Shell in Malaysia in 1982 and served for 25 years with the first half focusing on Information Technology software application and the second half in Human Resources (HR), where she was part of a global team in Shell Group HR serving regional businesses.

She joined Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) as General Manager, Leadership Development & Talent Management in Group HR in 2007. Upon the demerger of TM Group in 2008, she was appointed as Head, Group HR of Axiata Group Berhad (Axiata) and later was appointed as the Group Chief Talent Officer of Axiata, focusing on Talent Management across the group, including being responsible for its highly successful flagship Corporate Social Responsibility programme, the Axiata Young Talent Programme that builds young talents into future CEOs of the nation. 

In March 2020, she retired from Axiata as Group Chief of Axiata Learning, a position she assumed in 2019 which focused on a sustained, modern, agile and digital way of capability building for the Axiata Group, through the setup of a Group-wide Applied University.  

She continued to be responsible for the Axiata Young Talent Programme even after retirement by being subsequently appointed as the CEO of Axiata Foundation, a non-profit organisation whose main focus is to oversee the programme, a position she held until May 2021. 

Presently, she has been the Chief Talent Officer of QSR Brands (M) Holdings Berhad since October 2021.

Chin Min Ming

Min Ming was appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the AirAsia X on 1 December 2022. She is also the Chairman of the Risk Management Committee of the Company and a member of the Audit Committee of the Company. 

Min Ming holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Victoria, Canada, and a Senior Executive Master of Business Administration from the Melbourne Business School. She is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). 

She has extensive experience in Digital Transformation, Strategic Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship. She had successfully implemented Financial Inclusion for migrant workers and refugees, digitalised Compliance Audit Tool for industry best practice standards, developed a world-first Data Security & Access Control token with built-in RFID, designed the Digital ID blueprint for the first Multi-Application National ID Card in the world, delivered Labuan Halal Hub and National Food Traceability platform, and more. She is well-versed in technology valuation and acquisition. She raised the highest tech startup fund in Asia during the Asian Financial Crisis and the first in Malaysia to receive funding from Draper Investment. 

Further, she is actively involved in ESG and advising companies on Sustainability Risks Management and Compliance. She is familiar with sustainability reporting standards including GRI, TCFD, RSPO, GPSNR, and SBTi.